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Unified Targets for 4.2

instructions​

1. Determine the target to use.​

Image that shows where to find the target name

The CLI is another method to get the target name.

# version
# Betaflight / STM32F411 (S411) 4.2.0 Jun 14 2020 / 03:04:43 (8f2d21460) MSP API: 1.43
# config: manufacturer_id: MTKS, board_name: MATEKF411, version: be0c9205, date: 2020-01-15T19:44:32Z
# board: manufacturer_id: MTKS, board_name: MATEKF411

The MCU target is STM32F411 and unified target config is MATEKF411 as the board_name describes the board type config. The manufacturer is required to maintain a unified target configuration file.

2. Choose your target​

MATEKF411 <-- Unified target
  • After you hit load firmware on the Firmware Flasher tab you will get the following release info:
Target: MATEKF411
Manufacturer ID: MTKS
Version: 4.2.0
Binary: betaflight_4.2.0_STM32F411.hex
Date: 14-06-2020 08:40
Unified Target: MTKS-MATEKF411.config
Date: 2020-01-15T19:44:32Z

FAQ: What is Manufacturer ID: MTKS What do these four letters mean? They refer to the manufacturer of the board. The list is available in Manufacturers.md

Tip: remember to save a backup of your config, like as a diff, before you flash a new version of betaflight. Please note it is only save to import certain settings back. If unsure please start with a fresh configuration.

3. Load Firmware [Online] then Flash Firmware​

4. Connect to configurator, click on Apply Custom Defaults when prompted:​

Picture of a notice that asks the user to apply custom defaults

If you are having an issue with the unified target, try the legacy target for now, and file an issue on the Issue Tracker if the unified target is missing anything that it should have.

Todo: which target for example?, also needs some images.

Tips for working with Unified targets

Working on firmware​

Save a copy of the unified target to your computer from the repository, lets use MTKS-MATEKF411.config as an example.

Open up the file in a text editor and take a look at the first line.

# Betaflight / STM32F411 (S411) 4.1.0 Jun 25 2019 / 10:27:57 (2a6e94d03) MSP API: 1.42

In this case, STM32F411 is the processor target used, so when you compile a target you'll want to use make TARGET=STM32F411

Combine and flash with the configurator​

In the configurator load the .config file first, and then load the betaflight_4.x.x_STM32F411.hex, now flash the firmware. On the first connect you will be prompted to Apply Custom Defaults just like the regular flashing procedure

make_config_hex.sh​

make_config_hex.sh is a script in src/utils that can be used to combine a unified target configuration with a firmware image. The combined .hex may be useful to share with other users of the same flight controller. Users of the combined .hex will be prompted to Apply Custom Defaults, just like the regular flashing procedure.

The srec_cat program is part of srecord, which is available in ubuntu under universe. apt install srecord

Windows binaries to not seem available, but they do have instructions

Take a look at src/utils/make_config_hex.sh for more information.